Of Books and Looks
by Looni Loopi
Summary: <html><head></head>AU. Lily Evans has a secret: she cannot read in front of others. In a world full of the rich and the elite, she struggles to keep her tentative friendship with Severus and her marks. Fiction and her reality collide with a splash of the 21st century and a countryside boarding school as Lily slowly begins to unravel the mysteries that threaten to choke her.</html>
1. Chapter 1

The redhead twirled a strand of hair around her finger, emerald eyes delving deep into the literary world. The book that Class Seven had been set lay abandoned in the corner of the girls' day room and she was vaguely aware of a few other girls around her. She'd agreed to meet Severus in the dining hall but the five minutes she had requested were wearing thin. Scraping her hair up into a ponytail, her attention was caught by a commotion coming from the dormitory.

"And if you think that you will ever share my bed again," yelled a girl with disheveled hair whose face gave Lily's hair a run for its money. "Then you truly are a pig!" The girl, although enraged, did not inspire Lily to feel sympathetic. Averting her gaze from the topless boy who was delivering an amused reply, she took out a bottle of water from her satchel.

"Text me," he said, his smirk widening. "Evans! Fancy meeting you here." The bottle was snatched out of her fingers and Lily looked up with a scowl. He was good-looking, there was no denying it, but he certainly wasn't her type. Black broke the rules and got caught rather than bending them and remaining, in the eyes of most, innocent.

"Pass it back, Black," she said with a roll of her eyes. He mimicked her, laughing, and she stood up irritably. "You shouldn't even be in here, you know, it's a _girls_' day room." The redhead fixed him with her most condescending look, green eyes locking with his silvery-grey ones.

There was a pause and Lily could almost hear the grey matter ticking inside him. "Alright, alright, take the bottle. I don't see what's so good about it-" He had held it out for her and, still irritated, she had been seized by an idea. Pressing down on the plastic of the bottle, the water shot out through the lid and drenched the boy's shirt.

"You going now, Black, or should I empty it over your head?" she asked with a sweet smile. For a moment, Black was stunned before he caught himself and began to laugh. Then he began to unbutton his shirt and Lily took a step back instinctively.

"Relax - and less of the 'Black', I'm Sirius. I just thought that if you were having something to drink that I should, too." He pulled out a small flask from what Lily presumed was an inside pocket and unscrewed the cap. "What're you doing here, anyway? The lacrosse starts in half an hour and everyone goes out to watch it."

Lily pulled a face, her nose wrinkling as the scent of his weak alcohol. "I don't, I've got other arrangements - not that it's any of your business," she responded, drying the side of her bottle against her skirt. Sirius' eyebrows raised and she cut him off, sensing what he was thinking before he spoke. "It's not a date, it's just Severus."

The boy snorted, his lazy smile easily turning into a sneer. One that used to turn her stomach. "No one goes on dates with that git. Prongs and I have been getting him Head & Shoulders for the past three years and he still hasn't gotten the message."

Lily knew that she should have pursed her lips and reprimanded him and she did, but only after a faint smile had scarred her features. A smile at the joke that had annoyed her friend for so long. "Of course it would be you two. You know, his father got rather annoyed about the delivery van showing up at all - not to mention when there were boxes and boxes of shampoo inside." She'd heard the story firsthand last year when he'd come for an unscheduled sleepover. Petunia had been insufferable.

"Think you know what the word annoyed means? Spend a day with my dear old Mum-" Lily's eyebrows furrowed and the start of another sentence formed on her tongue. "Actually don't, she's a hag. Oh, 'scuse me." There was an odd sort of sound emitting from the boy's pocket as he pulled out a large smartphone.

Lily rolled her eyes, watching as he took a swig from his flask before holding the phone out in front of him. "Right. Alright, cool, set it up for at least five or maybe six." She turned away, adjusting her tie slowly as her curiosity prevented her from leaving. "Nah course not, it's not due until Friday. Yeah, she's here actually- _you're a git_. Uh-huh, if you say so. Obviously. Get off the phone, twat." His tone, contrary to the words, was teasing.

"I'll just have to escort you out then, come on," she said, hands firmly fixed around his arm as if there had been no interruption. Sirius sent her an amused look, waggling his eyebrows, and she removed her hands, face flushing pink. "A platonic escort. Making sure that you don't hang around in here any longer today - go watch that brilliant lacrosse game you were so interested in."

But Sirius didn't seem to have heard the advice and he stopped, turning to face her with shining eyes. "Platonic implies that we're mates."


	2. Chapter 2

Black didn't appear to shut up, continuing to talk as she eased him out of the room. Swinging the door closed behind them, she put her hands on her hips and regarded him. "Right, go find your next victim. Shoo!"

He looked incredulously at her, an eyebrow raised. "Evans, you wound me. But really, come along to the game - you'll enjoy it." There was no change in her facial expression. "Alright, your loss. Just stay away from the West Wing dormitories." With a self-congratulatory wink, he walked off down the corridor towards the lacrosse pitch, disappearing down the stairs.

Lily waited for him to gain ground on her before heading in the same direction, walking down the stairs alone. Reaching the end corridor, she closed her eyes for a moment and, on opening them, found herself meeting the rather irritated gaze of Severus. "You said you'd be five minutes," he stated flatly, regarding her with a mixture of annoyance and sadness. He was sitting on a bench, a dog-eared pile of textbooks next to him with a series of hastily-scribbled notes in her handwriting. Lily couldn't bring herself to write in margins, it felt disrespectful to the books.

"I'm really sorry, Sev, I just..." She gestured with her left hand, cheeks reddening as she approached him. "You saw Black was being annoying and Marlene looked really upset-"

"McKinnon was in our dorm over the weekend. I didn't see who it was but she was definitely snogging someone." Severus looked disinterested, as if random hook-ups were a usual thing in the East Wing - which Lily supposed they were. East or West.

She sat gingerly on the seat next to him, picking up a copy of Advanced Biology and thumbing through it quickly before setting it down again. "You wouldn't do something like that, would you?" she asked after a hesitant pause.

Severus looked up, his nose poking out from his own Biology book. "Like what?" His cheeks had gained a bit more colour but she didn't notice.

"Like..." She re-arranged her hands on her lap, her own face turning pink. "Meet someone and make them fall for you before..." The redhead tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, trying to think of a polite way of saying it. "Do things. And just leave."

Severus looked at her, his gaze intense - as if he was trying to read her. Lily gave a weak shrug before looking away, wishing she hadn't mentioned it. He must have found what it was that he was looking for because his voice was more confident this time. "No, never. I promise."

When she looked up, the distance between their faces had closed dramatically and she could see the fine hairs on his upper lip. The nervousness in his eyes, reflecting her own expression back at her and she looked curiously blank. Like a canvas before it was painted. Their lips were centimetres from touching when a voice interrupted and she sprang backwards as if stunned.

"Oi Evans!" yelled a voice from behind and she turned to face it, face crimson. James Potter, dressed from head to toe in lacrosse gear. Behind him were two of his friends - one carrying a lacrosse stick and a large banner with 'WEST WING' spread all over it and the other was Remus Lupin, who she tore her eyes away from. Instead, she focused on James and felt her stomach tighten. He couldn't have played yet, she decided, as there wasn't a bead of sweat on him. Nor a single patch of mud. "You coming to the game or are you staying here to _study_?" His voice was full of contempt.

Severus stood up, his face like thunder. "I'll have you know, _Potter_, that when we get A*s all across the board and you end up with Ds, it'll be us that are laughing." Lily's eyebrows furrowed a little, certain that something sounded a bit off. She did not stand, her gaze having drifted back towards Remus.

"Yeah - James gets all the Ds," laughed the blonde-haired boy and Lily exchanged a look with Remus, his rueful smile contrasting with her amused one. Her heart seemed to beat a little faster.

"Shut it, Pete." James glared at him, running a hand through his hair, his gaze flitting from Lily to Severus. Severus, for his credit, looked less bemused than Lily but less annoyed than James. "Come on, Evans, you can study later."

She stood slowly, determinedly not looking at any of them. Whatever it was that had happened with Severus, she could deal with it later - the redhead was starting to get a headache. "I can't be dealing with this," she muttered. "Sev, I'll see you later." She bent to scoop up her textbooks and notes.

"Come _on_, James, we'll be late," whined Peter but no one seemed to care. He smacked James with the lacrosse stick and nudged Remus with the end of it before slinking off on his own towards the exit.

Lily exchanged a look with Severus, who looked crestfallen. Leaning towards him, she pressed a fleeting kiss on his cheek before dashing back off towards the West Wing. The stairs passed in a blur and she was in the empty day room before she realised that the tears had begun to fall.


End file.
